The present invention relates to soft tissue protector and drill guide for guiding elements, especially drill bits and implants of an implantation kit during a surgical intervention, comprising a soft tissue protector main body having a gripping portion, wherein the drill guide has an upper and a lower opening along its longitudinal axis with a through going cavity for receiving the element to be guided, and a lower object contact surface to be positioned on an object on or into which said element is to be guided, wherein the diameter of the through going cavity can be varied.
Drilling and positioning implants in bones require protection of the surrounding soft tissues. In the prior art this is achieved through hollow cylindrical metallic parts that prevent contact between the instrument or implant and the surrounding soft tissues. These same tools are produced in different diameters in order to accommodate for different drill bits and implants diameters.
The soft tissue protector can be also used to roughly guide the surgeon in achieving determined alignments between implants. Several of these soft tissue protectors can be joined through a metallic connector and help the surgeon drilling concentric holes and maximizing the implant grip in the bone.
The use of implants having many different diameters requires the surgical sets to be equipped with a considerable number of parts. These are the drills necessary to perform adequate holes and the chucks necessary to join the drill bits to the drill, different trocars and sleeves. For using 3, 4, 5 and 6 millimeter pins, e.g. twelve different parts can be necessary. A large number of parts require the surgeon and the assistants to pay additional attention in selecting the proper equipment. Furthermore, so many parts result in a heavier and larger instruments tray.
A drill guide and soft tissue protector is known from U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0232897. This drill guide has a main body with a flat base and an aperture for assisting the movement of the drill bit. Interchangeable drilling heads adapted to guide drill bits of different diameters are provided and can be positioned inside the housing of the main body wherein the drilling heads are maintained in the housing by a retention plate. The device can be held by the user at the handle.